


Playing a Familiar Chord

by dfcfanfics



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Comfort, Drama, F/M, I Just Want To Be A Maybe, Let's Start From Here, Lukanette, Romance, When I Was Your Age..., adrienette - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 06:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dfcfanfics/pseuds/dfcfanfics
Summary: A phone call interrupts Luka Couffaine's early evening guitar practice... a certain young lady's just had a miserable afternoon, and she could use some advice.  While that might not be all that he'd like her to ask from him... for the moment, he has an idea of just what she needs to hear.Response to Puppeteer 2, so SPOILERS for that episode and for Luka's other appearances lurk within!





	Playing a Familiar Chord

MiraculElse #10: Playing a Familiar Chord

(Timeline: An hour or two after Puppeteer 2. So SPOILERS for Puppeteer 2, if you haven't seen it!)

* * *

Luka Couffaine sat quietly on his bed in the early evening, working out the finer points of a new composition. _The first verse is just how I want it,_ he mused, _and the bridge... but I'm just not sure about the transition in this part. Maybe if I..._

He tried one variation, then a second one, and went back and forth between them for a while, testing each out.

 _I just can't decide,_ he thought. _The first one is how I wanted it to sound in the first place... and it seems like a natural fit... but maybe the second one complements the overall piece better?_

Concentrating hard on the notes, he didn't notice his sister sticking her head around the corner for a moment.

"Hey, _"_ Juleka said, once she saw a moment where she wouldn't be too abruptly distracting. "Mom wants to know what we want for dinner tonight."

"What are our choices?" he asked. "We did tuna last night..."

"Yeah, we have leftovers from that, or she mentioned pasta... or we could just go out for chicken."

Luka shrugged, briefly. "They all sound good. Any of those jumping out at you?"

"Not really," Juleka replied. "Maybe the chicken, I guess. Working on something for the band?"

He shook his head. "No, this is just... you know how I get. Thoughts get stuck in my head and writing music is how I get them out."

"Whatever works," she smiled. "I'll tell Mom that we could do any of those, but takeout means less dishes to wash."

She disappeared again, and Luka stared down at his guitar once more. _That probably gives me an hour to keep tinkering with this. If I..._

Abruptly, the quiet was broken by Luka's phone ringing. The sound jarred him to attention very quickly... as it was a ringtone that he hadn't been expecting to hear.

* * *

"Hey, Marinette," Luka answered, in a pleasant tone.

"Hi, Luka," Marinette replied. "How have you been?"

"Same old, same old," he smiled. "Keeping busy. How about you?"

"Oh... nothing much. 'Same old, same old' is a good way to put it, I think," she said. Her voice sounded a bit troubled to Luka's well-tuned ear. "I was wondering... um... do you have a few minutes? I don't want to take you out of something..."

"I'm not doing anything important," he said quickly, putting his guitar down on the bed beside him. "And you, I can always make time for. What's up?"

"I could use a little advice on something. And, well... I think I kind of need a boy's perspective on this, and it's not really something that I can ask my father," squirmed Marinette. "And when I thought about it for a while... um... you came to mind as someone who's always been straight and honest with me."

"Hmmm."

Marinette saw him thinking for a moment, and waited...

"And I'm guessing that a certain boy isn't someone you can ask, either," Luka ventured.

"Y-yeah," she admitted. "But it's not what you think! I wouldn't ask you, like, 'what do I have to do to win him over' or anything like that... for a _bunch_ of reasons..."

"It's okay, Marinette. I'm not the best around with words, but I can try and help you through whatever's going on, okay?" Luka replied, calmly. "That's what friends are for."

"Thank you," Marinette smiled, feeling embarrassed. "Because it looks like friends are how Adrien and I are going to stay."

* * *

Luka paused for a moment. "Oooh," he murmured. "That's really not what you had in mind for him."

Marinette's expression looked agitated for a moment... then relaxed somewhat, as if _How does he KNOW that?_ melted into _Of COURSE he knows that_ in her mind. "Yeah... it's not," she said, her face becoming flushed. "I've been... I've been kind of throwing myself at him, and not being able to just _tell_ him, and chasing him all year and making a fool of myself. And something happened today where it finally clicked in my head that, no, Marinette, it's just not going to happen."

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" asked Luka. "You don't have to."

"I don't want to," she grinned. "But I kind of have to tell _someone_ or I'm going to scream. It was that dumb of me."

"If you're sure, I'm here. Though if you're going to build it up that much, now I kind of _have_ to hear it," he laughed.

"Okay..." she said, taking a deep breath...

"I was at the wax museum with Adrien and some friends of ours. I was in one of the rooms by myself... or I _thought_ I was by myself... and they had a statue in progress of Adrien. It was so lifelike... I was admiring it, and I started talking to it... sort of daydreaming out loud. I smelled it, and it even _smelled_ like him. I plucked one of its hairs off. I told it how I wished I could be a statue just like him, wrapped up with him, embracing him forever..."

Her nose wrinkled as Luka couldn't suppress a small laugh, even though he tried valiantly. "You're sure you're not a poet, too?" he teased. "There are no ends to your talents."

" _Stop_ ," she blushed. "Believe me, this was not one of my prouder moments. This wasn't any kind of talent, this was me making a _complete fool_ of myself. Especially when I leaned in and kissed it - just the tiniest little peck on the lips!"

"...And?" asked Luka, dying to hear the rest of it.

"...And he pulled away."

* * *

Luka sat very still, processing what he'd just heard. "Wait. It was the _real_ Adrien?" he stammered. "Not a wax figure?"

"Yeah, it was. I... kind of played it off as a joke, so that I didn't die on the spot," Marinette replied, morosely.

"Hold on. He was standing perfectly still like a statue, you plucked a _hair_ off of his head, you said those sweet things to him, and he just kept _standing_ there?" boggled Luka. "Why would he _do_ that?"

"I wish I knew! I mean, we talked a little about it later... I started to tell him that I meant it as a joke, just being silly with a statue, but if I'd known that it _was_ him it _wouldn't_ have been a joke, and... well, he stopped me, and he apologized for _his_ joke of pretending to be a statue. He thought I was mad at him for something, I have _no idea_ why, and he was trying to make me laugh. We both kind of looked at each other, and said that maybe we'd better not prank each other like that again. And then he said..."

She paused, seeing Luka's expression. "You're looking at me like I'm crazy," she lamented.

"I'm looking at you like _he's_ crazy _,_ " Luka corrected her. "Yeah, you were both being silly, but what's wrong with that? And in a way, it sounds kind of romantic. The two of you alone together, a confession of love, a first kiss..."

"...Until he pulled away from it," moped Marinette. "Then I was goggle-eyed that it _was_ the real him and he'd just heard me say all that, and he was goggle-eyed because I'd tried to kiss him, and then Alya and Nino came in and a bunch of other stuff happened."

"...Awkward," Luka said.

"Just a bit," agreed Marinette. "But then on our way home, we got a chance to talk about it, like I said. And when he said what he did, apologizing for his statue prank... he said, 'The girl that I love keeps telling me that I tell too many jokes.'"

"Oh, _man,_ " gasped Luka, quietly.

"...And I've _never_ told Adrien Agreste that," she said, glumly.

* * *

Luka sat silently for a moment, searching for the right words.

"Okay, Marinette? First off... I am _so sorry_ that he did that. I could tell how hard you'd fallen for him that day at the skating rink. No pun intended."

"Luka... I wasn't very fair to you that day, and I'm sorry about that," Marinette replied.

"No, you were; I was completely cool with that, I promise," Luka assured her, not trying to make her feel worse. "You didn't, like, take me on a date and then ditch me, and don't feel like you did! We were a couple of friends, hanging out together, having a good time."

"That's sweet of you to say," said Marinette. "But I still feel bad."

"You shouldn't! I mean that. The other thing is, I don't know Adrien _that_ well. I've met him a couple of times, he did a gig with Kitty Section once... he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would hurt anyone's feelings deliberately."

"No, no, _no!"_ cried Marinette, largely from reflex. "He's driving me crazy but he would never do _that_. He would never be mean to me on purpose. And that's... kind of what hurt me the most about it."

"Can you explain that?" asked Luka.

"Well... I've tried to let him know how I feel so many times, so many ways..." Marinette said. "We're kind of close, but not like how I want us to be, you know? I kissed him on the cheek one time before this, at the picnic we had after Heroes' Day. He seemed to approve."

"You kissed me on the cheek after we went skating. I seemed to approve," noted Luka, trying to keep things light.

"So I did," smiled Marinette. "Okay, so not all kisses mean love, necessarily, I get that. Even Adrien gets that, I think. He's not the most... socially tuned in all of the time; his father kept him pretty sheltered. But here's the thing... if you looked at me and you thought, 'Okay, I'm crazy about someone _else_ right now, but _this_ girl's really something, too, and maybe I should keep my options open, just in case...' would _you_ just drop 'the girl that I _love_ says blah blah blah' into conversation like that? Just blurting out loud that 'I love someone else, you have no chance, just thought I'd mention that?'"

Luka's silence and frown spoke volumes.

"Exactly. That tells me that to Adrien, I'm not even a dating _possibility_." She sighed, deeply. "And I think that means I need to stop hoping and just accept it."

"Maybe. Maybe not," reasoned Luka. "Unless calling a guy to ask for advice about the _other_ guy means that _he's_ not even a possibility."

* * *

A very long pause followed.

"Luka... that is _totally_ not why I called you tonight. I want to make that very clear," said Marinette, with some anguish in her voice.

"I know that, Marinette, honest. I'm just thinking out loud. You're hurting, and you needed a friend to listen, and I'm here for you. I don't want to seem like I'm ragging on Adrien because I think he's my competition," Luka assured her.

"I also want to make it very clear," Marinette added, "that I'm not calling to say 'Oh hey, I'm available now because Adrien shot me down, so do you wanna date?' _Or_ to say 'No, I _don't_ wanna date. _'_ I... I really don't know what I want any more, and I'm really confused and I'm new to all of this stuff. I need some time to think about where I'm at. I'm sorry, I'm babbling now."

"I understand. I've been there," he replied.

"You are not going to go to bed tonight thinking 'well, I guess I'm just a backup plan.' You are more than just a second choice to me, Luka. Does that make sense?" asked Marinette.

"I think it does," said Luka.

"And..." Luka watched Marinette turn bright red as she continued. "I remember the sweetest thing that anyone's ever said to me... that day in the TVi studio, right before you went on to play. I was... well, I've been trying to figure out how to respond to that ever since. And I never did that properly, and I feel so bad about that. I just need to get my head together before... y'know?"

"You take your time, and any way that I can help, you let me know," replied Luka, trying to remain calm.

"O-okay. Because one reason that I did call you tonight is... well, I was wondering..."

Marinette took a deep breath.

"You said those wonderful, sweet words to me that day, Luka. What is it that you see in me... that Adrien just doesn't?"

* * *

The adrenaline rush that Luka felt in that moment in time was a remarkable thing. He blinked, trying to make sure that his head was still attached to his body. Early indications were positive.

"I'm _sorry_ , I'm _so_ sorry, I'm putting you on the spot right now and that's so unfair of me-" stammered Marinette, seeing his reaction.

"No, it's fine. I want to answer that question, Marinette, because I meant every word that day," Luka managed. "Clear as a music note, sincere as a melody. I, uh, just hadn't pictured myself searching for those right words tonight, so let me think of how I want to say this..."

"I can't imagine that I make _you_ nervous _,_ " she replied.

"That's the thing, Marinette. You _don't_ think that other people look at you and go, 'Wow!' And maybe that's because one in particular hasn't been doing that enough," smiled Luka. "But you remember the day that we met, right?"

"Of course," Marinette confirmed. "The day of the music festival, when your mom got Akumatized."

"That's right, Ma-Ma-Marinette," he teased. "I wasn't quite sure what to make of you when you first came down to find me. I mean, it's not every day that I meet someone who's super-cute, funny _and_ is into Jagged Stone. And you didn't even _tell me_ that you'd designed one of his album covers! That blew me away when I found your name on the liner notes."

"Well... I don't like to brag about that... I was in the right place at the right time, and he was so nice to even consider it... _super-cute?_ "

"Oh, you did hear that," laughed Luka. "You know that you are, right? But you're a lot more than just good-looking. You're really creative; you're an artist, you're a clothing designer, you did _amazing_ work for Kitty Section with the costumes and the masks you thought up. You're such a fast thinker; when my mom was in trouble, or that day with Bob the butthead, you came up with a plan before I had any idea what to do. I wish I was half as smart as you. You're so funny, in a good way; I never quite know what you're going to do or say next, and I love that. You're brave like nobody else I've ever met."

"So brave that I couldn't tell a boy how I felt about him," Marinette parried. "For a _year_."

"Brave enough to sneak away from an Akuma and contact Ladybug. Brave enough to get in the face of a lousy music producer and stand up for yourself and for all of us. Brave enough to get in front of _me_ the day I was Akumatized. You're kidding, right?" Luka continued. "You're the kind of person who sees a problem, especially someone _else's_ problem, and the first thing you think is 'How can I help fix it?' You have no idea how rare that is in this world."

"That's not that rare," faltered Marinette.

"It shouldn't be that rare. But it is," insisted Luka. "You are a special person, Marinette. You have a light in your eyes that almost no one else has. I saw it the moment you walked into my room that day; it's been singing to me ever since."

* * *

"You're very sweet," Marinette demurred. "You've almost got me believing some of that."

"Have I ever lied to you before?" parried Luka. "That's really not my style."

Her grin told him that she believed _that_.

"Now, as for the second part of your question..." he continued, "like I said earlier... I know Adrien, but I can't say that I know him _well_. I think I can see why you like him so much... he seems _real,_ like you are. The kind of guy who doesn't lie because he wouldn't know how. I like people like that. I like him. And he definitely likes _you,_ and more than a little; anyone can see that when you're near each other. He may have been skating with that other girl... but his eyes were on you the whole time."

"Yeah, he likes me. Just not..." Marinette trailed off.

"...How you need him to."

"Uh-huh," half-smiled Marinette, sheepishly. "And now I guess I know why."

"Hey. Can I tell you a little story?" asked Luka. "It's about a guy who looked a lot like me, but younger. About two years ago, so I guess I was right around Adrien's age. There was this girl; she was a year ahead of me. Her name was Camille. She had dark eyes, long hair, a little tattoo on her right shoulder... and she was everything I ever wanted. Camille was _amazing_. She played bass guitar in a local garage band, she was the coolest person ever, she had this... intensity where if she looked at you, you thought you were going to melt away. I was in love with her for, like, a whole year."

"Ask Juleka about Camille sometime," he added. "I know how annoyed she got with me because I just wouldn't _shut up_ about Camille, Camille, Camille."

"Uh-huh," Marinette replied. "So how long were you two dating?"

"Dating?" laughed Luka. "I think I got to a point where she knew what my name was. I'm not completely sure about that."

"Huh?"

"One time I sat outside their practice session for, like, two hours, just so I could be there when she walked out and be like, 'Oh, hey! I was just wandering by, and I heard the music, surprised to see _you_ here...' All suave and debonair, right? Until the drummer walked out first to smoke a cigarette and glared at me like 'Get out of here, cockroach,'" Luka grinned.

"I... won't say that doesn't sound kind of familiar," Marinette admitted. "I kind of have Adrien's class schedule memorized."

"Everybody has crushes like that sometimes. And I'll bet Adrien does, too. And when teenage guys crush, we crush _hard,_ especially the first time," explained Luka. "Now, here's another question. You know Adrien a lot better than I do, Marinette. Has he ever mentioned his _girlfriend_ to you?"

"N-no... definitely not. He's got a girl that he's seemed... interested in... I don't know how seriously..." stammered Marinette.

" _Exactly_. So, he's got 'a girl that he loves,' right? That doesn't mean that _she loves him back_ yet _._ "

Luka watched Marinette's eyes widen with recognition. "I mean, maybe she does! You'd know that better than I would," he continued. "But you see him all the time, you're in good with his friends, your friends are close with him, too... if he was really dating someone, if they were in love, if it was mutual and not just a crush, you'd think that would come up pretty often, right?"

"Yeah... he'd be pink-clouding _all the time,_ " she agreed.

"Pink-clouding?" wondered Luka.

"It's... never mind, it's what we call that floating-on-a-cloud-of-love feeling," Marinette said, covering for herself.

"Maybe that girl is into him like that, if that's who he's talking about. Maybe she isn't. But I can't answer that; you'd have to talk to him to find that out," counseled Luka.

"Great. The thing that I'm the worst at," she smiled.

"You're being open and honest with me right now," he smiled back. "And, the last time I checked, I qualified as a boy."

* * *

Marinette paused for a moment, framing her own words carefully.

"You know... for someone that if I didn't know better, sounded interested in _me_... it almost sounds like you're nudging me back towards Adrien," she said. "Why is that?"

"I _am_ interested in you, Marinette. You're someone I want to spend a lot more time with, whether we're friends or more than that," Luka answered. "I really do want to get to know you better. But if you want to do that, I want to make sure it's because _you_ want to get to know _me_ better. I'm not into rebounds, and I _completely_ get that that's not what you're doing here!"

He smiled, adding, "Today, what you needed was a friend... and a little reminder that you're desirable, whether or not Adrien notices. I promise that any time you call me, you'll always get both of those. But I want what's best for you, and only you know who and what that is."

Luka watched pink become crimson.

A sound at the door made him register his sister's presence, and he waved frantically at her to go away. "Listen, I think I've gotta go get dinner... but call me any time, okay?" he said. "I'm always here for you. Take your time and figure things out."

"I will," Marinette beamed. "Thank you so much for... everything today. You really were just who I needed. And if you ever want to call and see about spending some of that time together... don't feel like you have to wait for me to ask."

"Careful, I might just do that. You're going to be all right tonight?" asked Luka.

"Yeah, I'm good, thanks to you. Thank you again," she replied. "Bye!"

Luka hung up and sat still for a moment, with an unreadable expression on his face... then turned and saw that Juleka was still in the doorway. "You're still here," he grumbled.

"Yeah, 'cause you are, and Mom sent me to get you," Juleka countered. "Who was _that?"_

A smile crossed his face. "Someone very sweet and special. Maybe she'll tell you about it at school tomorrow," he replied.

As he hopped out of bed and headed for the door, the look of wonder on Juleka's face made him grin.

* * *

~fin~


End file.
